I have long called the January 6^th ‘insurrection’ what I believe it to be, the Capitol kerfuffle.

On Monday, Gary Edwards, 68, of Churchville in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to a single count of “parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol,” 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G) a charge which could result in probation or a sentence of up to six months in jail. Mr Edwards became the 8^th out of 55 Pennsylvanians charged in what amounts to a fraternity keg party getting out of control to plead guilty.

Two more suburban Philadelphia residents are expected to join those ranks this week. Dawn Bancroft, 59, and the owner of a CrossFit gym in Doylestown, and Diana Santos-Smith, of Fort Washington, are scheduled to plead guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan.

The Feds identified Mrs Bancroft and Mrs Santos-Smith from a selfie taken during the kerfuffle; does it look like they were engaged in a major operation, a serious attempted coup d’etat, against the United States?

Social media posts have played a large part in helping the Feds identify the kerfufflers. Mr Edwards’ wife found out just who the family’s friends really are.

There was little on his own public-facing Facebook account to suggest what brought him to Washington in January.

But his wife, in her own posts, described how her husband had followed a “small group of young men dressed in military garb” into the building after watching them break down police barricades, smash a window to climb inside, and then break furniture on their way toward storming the upper floors.

She claimed her husband spent his time in the building helping to flush tear gas from the eyes of other rioters, chatting amicably with police and singing “The Star Spangled-Banner.”

“These were people who watched their rights being taken away,” she wrote. “Their votes stolen from them, their state officials violating the constitutions of their country.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that it was one of Mrs Edwards Facebook friends who took a screenshot of the post, and forwarded it to the FBI.

Yeah, I’d unfriend that bitch!

But it’s interesting how the Inquirer, which normally doesn’t run mugshots of accused criminals, posted that photo of Mrs Bancroft and Mrs Santos-Smith. The credentialed media, who really don’t want to make life harder on actual criminals, have been very free with the photos of the kerfufflers.

These are the typical charges placed against the vast majority of the kerfufflers:

• 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1) – Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority. Since the Munns are not accused of harming anyone or carrying a deadly weapon, the maximum punishment under (b)(2) is a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.
• 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(2) – Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds. Since the Munns are not accused of harming anyone or carrying a deadly weapon, the maximum punishment under (b)(2) is a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.
• 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D) – Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building: utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress; The penalty for violating 40 U.S.C. §5104(e)(2) is a misdemeanor conviction punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 fine or up to six months in prison, or both.
• 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G) – Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building; The penalty for violating 40 U.S.C. §5104(e)(2) is a misdemeanor conviction punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 or up to six months in prison, or both.

It’s simple: hammer down on charges, to ‘encourage’ the kerfufflers to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor. After all, if convicted on all four charges, and with judges who have already expressed displeasure that those who have pleaded guilty have done so to such a minor charge, those convicted could be sentenced to three years and possibly crippling fines. That Attorney General Merrick Garland, who hates Republicans because the GOP denied him a seat on the Supreme Court, has allowed his minions to offer pleas on only one misdemeanor charge, is indicative of the fact that this ‘insurrection’ wasn’t much of a much.

Were I to, by some miracle, become President, my first act would be to pardon all of the kerfufflers, and my second to fire Mr Garland in the most humiliating manner I could find.